Jennifer Finis of Heinrich Heine University in Düsseldorf, Germany, and her colleagues suspected that a type of Tourette’s tic called echophenomena, which involves mimicking other’s movements, may be caused by over-excitation of the supplementary motor area (SMA) – a brain region involved in the initiation of movement.

To investigate further, her team used a non-invasive technique called repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS), which involves delivering brief but strong magnetic pulses to the scalp. By changing the frequency of rTMS, the stimulation could either inhibit or excite the SMA.

Thirty seconds after rTMS, 30 volunteers were shown video clips of someone making a spontaneous movement. Those who’d had their SMA excited were three times as likely to imitate the kind of behaviour they saw in the clips than those who’d had it suppressed.

Great idea–let’s f*ck with a person’s neuropathways for laughs. Maybe they can find a voltage setting what’ll make him kick his hind leg like a dog or take a dump on command.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a45wqvfvr0c

bobbiethejean

Or maybe through this kind of testing they will find a cure for Tourette’s? Ever think of that? Besides, as long as they aren’t doing permanent damage to their subjects, what’s the problem?

Matt Staggs

Yeah, this is obviously medical research, and I’m certain that these people were volunteers.

Liam_McGonagle

Well, who says you can’t mix business and pleasure?

Matt Staggs

I’m chargin’ mah tourette’s lazor.

Calypso_1

Coming to a Police Dept near you.

bobbiethejean

Oh my god, the images in my head right now. No. Thank you very fucking much. X3

alizardx

Knowing where this kind of problem is might be helpful to people who aren’t neurotypical. Note that the report also suggests this can be used to inhibit tics. If this works out, perhaps portable stimulators can be built to help these people literally tune these problems out by changing rTMS pulse frequency or width. While it is reasonable to assume that the undesirable side of this stimulation is temporary, the referenced article does NOT say it is, so read the actual research paper before sitting at an ECAD workstation to design a DIY version or testing it on real people..